Letters to the Editor

By The Bakersfield Californian

You just have to love Bakersfield's predictability. I prognosticated the outcome of the David Sal Silva case as soon as Superior Court Judge Charles Brehmer issued a search warrant for the witnesses' cellphones.

Now it is a done deal. The evidence has been rendered harmless, the blows were not to vital places and the sheriff's coroner has ruled the death an act of God.

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In the usual Bakersfield fashion, this man died from his intentional self-flagellation with the deputies' batons. The suspect was also inconsiderate in his treatment of the deputy's K-9 -- he tried to get the dog to let go. Bad choice.

However, this story is not over. A lawsuit will be filed. The court will rule that the cellphone owners held the deputies hostage in their homes and threatened to hurt them if they left. The incident will then be investigated by an elite board made up of Sheriff Donny Youngblood's personal friends and relatives. They will rule in the usual Bakersfield fashion that Silva died from an accidentally-on-purpose cocktail of dog bites, baton blows, drug overdose, and the embarrassment of lying down on someone's lawn.

The body of a large paddle-tailed rodent was found early Tuesday in the traffic lanes of southbound Mohawk Street north of Truxtun Avenue, suggesting Bakersfield's fabled bike path beaver -- scourge of local saplings -- may have died.

The lush grasses and sweeps of wildflowers cloak much of the damage to the small canyon in a blanket of ephemeral green. But Ellen Cypher and Erin Tennant can see it as they walk along a sandy route that has been churned into the bottom of the wash by motorcyclists and quad riders.

Californian columnist Lois Henry's discussion about fireworks Wednesday on "First Look with Scott Cox" was as explosive as a firework itself. She didn't hold anything back as she described the Kern County Supervisor's decision Tuesday to continue allowing Piccolos and ground flowers to be sold in...